- Deion Barnes enters his first season in 2023 as the Nittany Lions' defensive line coach.
- Barnes spent the previous three years on the Penn State staff as a graduate assistant working with the defensive line.
- Following a professional playing career in the NFL and the AAF, Barnes joined the Penn State coaching staff in 2020.
- During his three seasons working with the defensive line, Barnes helped coach 11 All-Big Ten defensive linemen, including three first-team selections and a second-team All-American.
- Barnes tutored defensive tackle PJ Mustipher, who was a two-time captain for the Nittany Lions and a three-time All-Big Ten honoree.
- During the 2022 season, Penn State led the Big Ten with 104 tackles for loss (T-4th nationally) and 42 sacks (T-6th).
- Defensive end Adisa Isaac returned from an injury in 2022 earning third-team All-Big Ten honors.
- Among defensive lineman in the Big Ten, Isaac's 11 tackles for loss were tied for third.
- Pairing up with Isaac in 2022 was transfer defensive end Chop Robinson, who picked up All-Big Ten honorable mention honors, and according to Pro Football Focus, led Power Five edge rushers with a 91.6 pass rush grade.
- Barnes also worked with defensive end Arnold Ebiketie, a transfer, during the 2021 season and helped develop him into a first-team All-Big Ten selection and an FWAA second-team All-American.
- Ebiketie finished the year first among Power Five defensive linemen in tackles for loss (17.0).
- Under Barnes' tutelage, Ebiketie also paced the Big Ten in blocked field goals (2), was second in tackles for loss and third in sacks (9.5).
- Mustipher (second team) and linebacker-converted-to-defensive-end Jesse Luketa (third team) also earned all-conference laurels in 2021 for a defensive line unit which helped Penn State finish sixth nationally in points allowed (17.3).
- In his first season, Barnes worked with Odafe Oweh and Shaka Toney, who became the first Penn State defensive end duo to receive All-Big Ten first team honors since Courtney Brown and Brad Scioli in 1998.
- Oweh and Toney each earned 2021 NFL Combine invitations, while Toney accepted an invitation to the Reese's Senior Bowl.
- Oweh was picked in the first round (31st overall) by the Baltimore Ravens in the 2021 NFL Draft, making him the first Penn State defensive end selected in the first round since 2009 (Aaron Maybin).
- Toney was selected by the Washington Football Team in the seventh round (246th overall) as he and Oweh became the first defensive end duo to be drafted in the same year for Penn State since 1975 (Mike Hartenstine and Greg Murphy).